Tuesday, August 1, 2017

Recap of ‘Stitchers’ 3x08 "Dreamland": Alien Prime Suspect in Murder?

When an ex-Air Force officer is found dead, the prime suspect is an alien in Stitchers episode 3x08 “Dreamland”. Is the Stitchers team dealing with a government coverup or is something else going on? And Kirsten has a lot to deal with. She finally meets Cameron’s mother and she finds out Ivy was in contact with Stinger.

Cameron wakes Kirsten up after another unpleasant dream. Kirsten doesn’t remember what she was dreaming about. She hasn’t remembered her dreams since she was a kid. Worried, Cameron sets up an appointment with a top neurologist. He’s concerned something got tweaked in her brain when she was stuck in the stitch with her mom.

Cameron promises to keep the test results between the two of them. He won’t tell Maggie anything. He lost Kirsten’s trust once. He’s not going to let that happen again.

Detective Fisher also wakes up in bed with someone. Things are going great with his ex-wife Stephanie. Unfortunately for Fisher, things are about to change. Stephanie got her dream DOJ job working to help victims of overseas terrorism. The problem? The job is in Washington D.C.

Stephanie asks Fisher to move to D.C. with her. Fisher doesn’t give her an answer and he’s clearly conflicted. He’s happy working for the Stitchers program. The Stitchers team has become his family.

Linus gets a call from Ivy. Linus is upset that Ivy blew him off. Ivy apologizes, but she can’t tell him she missed their date because Detective Fisher and Maggie questioned her about Stinger. Luckily for Ivy, Linus is quick to forgive. They make plans for a dinner date.

Linus is also busy being a good friend to Camille. Camille’s been in a downward spiral ever since Amanda dumped her. So Linus wants to help Camille get over Amanda. He shows up at Camille’s house to take her on a morning beach run. Camille's not interested, but Linus is ready to drag Camille out of the house in her pajamas.

The Stitchers team doesn’t have a lot to go on when the body of ex-Air Force officer Fred Overmyer is found in Soledad Canyon. There are no witnesses, no signs of a struggle and no forensic evidence. The cause of death is unknown, but it looks like murder.

Kirsten suits up and stitches into Fred. She sees a memory from 1985. Fred is stuck in the past because he feels guilty about something. Fred apologizes to Rudy, a former Air Force pilot who is now catatonic.

In another memory from before Rudy’s catatonic state, Rudy tells Fred that he saw a UFO. Fred doesn’t believe him and warns Rudy not to report seeing a UFO if he wants to keep his job. Later, Fred tells a female officer that it’s time for Rudy to learn the truth about aliens.

Kirsten moves to another memory and sees Fred take Rudy to a restricted area. They see an alien on a table. The alien attacks and lunges at Rudy.

In the death memory, Fred sees lights coming from the sky. It looks like an UFO.

The entire Stitchers team, except Cameron, now thinks Fred was killed by an alien. Maybe Fred was killed because he had proof aliens exist?

Camille is sure the Stitchers program isn’t the only secret the government keeps. Camille watched the whole X-Files series growing up. The show wasn’t real, but her crush on actress Gillian Anderson was as real as it gets. Actor David Duchovny was a distant second. (Watch The X-Files season one on DVD and see if you get hooked on one of the longest-running science fiction series in network TV history).

Kirsten and Detective Fisher are also believers.

And Cameron doesn’t even his ‘men of science’ friend Linus on his side. Linus says there’s deductive proof of aliens. There are a hundred billion planets and five hundred billion galaxies. Some of them must have life.

Cameron agrees with that, but not the type of life that is zooming across the galaxy and killing old Air Force officers. “When did I become the mature adult here?” Cameron asks.

Cameron and Kirsten track down the pilot from the stitch. Rudy Grant had a nervous breakdown and was discharged from the Air Force in 1985. He’s now a famous Ufologist.

Rudy isn’t surprised that Fred was murdered. Rudy claims they were both attacked by aliens at Dreamland, aka Roessel Air Force Base (California’s answer to Area 51).

Rudy can tell Cameron doesn’t believe in aliens. Anyone can create a UFO hoax with tinfoil and a drone, but that doesn’t mean aliens don’t exist.

Rudy last saw Fred at his book signing a couple months ago. Rudy and his wife, Arlene, didn’t notice anything unusual that day.

Kirsten and Cameron go to Dreamland. Without permission, they sneak into the restricted area that Kirsten saw in the stitch. Instead of finding an alien autopsy, they find what looks like a UFO.

Before they can look around, Colonel Spencer and a bunch of men with guns stop Camsten. Colonel Spencer says the aircraft isn’t a UFO. It’s just a declassified Air Force prototype that they could never get off the ground.

Cameron and Kirsten ask about Fred, but Colonel Spencer refuses to tell them anything. The work Fred did at the base was classified. Kirsten says Fred may have been selling Dreamland secrets, but Colonel Spencer considers Fred a true patriot. He would never sell secrets.

Someone was depositing $1,000 in Fred’s bank account every month for the last 20 years. Fred always gave half of that money to Pog Newcomb. So Detective Fisher and Camille go to question Pog.

Pog says he wasn’t actually getting the money. He was the middle man. He gave the cash to his sister, Peggy Newcomb. Peggy died a couple months ago in an accident at work.

Cameron and Kirsten meet with the top neurologist. In a surprising twist, the neurologist is Cameron’s mother Marian Goodkin. Cameron and his mother clearly don’t have a great relationship. They awkwardly hug before Cameron gives Marion and Kirsten some privacy.

Before starting the exam, Cameron’s mom asks what Kirsten likes about Cameron. She can tell they are dating. Cameron’s never reached to ask her to help someone before. She can tell Cameron loves Kirsten.

Back at the lab, the Stitchers team looks at DMV photos of women named Peggy Newcomb. Kirsten identifies Peggy as the female officer who was in the stitch. Peggy worked at the chemical research lab at Dreamland.

The team also learns that Fred died from a lethal dose of a nerve toxin.

Detective Fisher gets a call from Maggie, who is in San Francisco on NSA business. She asked about a DC transfer for Fisher, but there’s nothing available. The NSA won’t budge and there is a hiring freeze. She might be able to get him a police officer job in DC, but that’s about it.

Kirsten is furious when she sees the photos. Kirsten shows Camille and Linus the evidence that Ivy and Daniel Stinger were in contact.

Detective Fisher tries to be the voice of reason. He tells the team not to jump to conclusions. Camille says "I told you so", but Linus defends Ivy. Cameron and Camille think Ivy is a risk. Kirsten and Linus both want to confront Ivy.

Unfortunately, that will have to wait. The refractory period is almost up. Kirsten has to stitch back into Fred’s memories. When Fred stopped by Rudy’s book signing, he told Rudy and Arlene that the alien attack was just a prank. Peggy put on an alien costume to scare Rudy. They didn’t think Rudy would have a breakdown.

Fred can’t take the guilt anymore. He doesn’t want Rudy to pay him for “his story”, since it was all a lie. Rudy completely ignores what Fred is saying. Arlene kicks Fred out of the bookstore.

And Fred didn’t see a UFO in his final moments. The “UFO” was actually a drone that sprayed Fred with the nerve toxin.

Rudy said it was easy to make a drone and tinfoil look like a UFO, so they go back to question him. Rudy denies killing Fred. Rudy has a license to operate a drone, but he never actually flew them. However, Arlene has.

Rudy’s wife, Arlene, murdered Fred. She was afraid Fred would take away everything Rudy believed in. She couldn’t let Rudy swirl into madness again. Arlene tried to get the nerve toxin from Peggy by threatening to stop the payments. Peggy refused, so Arlene killed her. Then she took the toxin and murdered Fred.

Detective Fisher goes home and finds Stephanie already sorting their clothes and preparing winter clothes for the move to DC. Fisher tells her that he couldn’t get a transfer, but Stephanie isn’t worried. He’ll be able to find work after they settle in DC.

When Fisher asks for more time to figure things out, Stephanie unfairly accuses him of choosing work over their relationship again. “Aren’t you?” Fisher asks Stephanie.

Kirsten cancels a dinner date with Cameron, so he can have some alone time with his mom. Kirsten doesn’t want to watch the man she loves turn his back on his relationship with his mother. Especially since she didn’t have a relationship with her own mother.

Cameron reluctantly agrees to dinner with his mom. Cameron’s mom mentions that she saw something odd on Kirsten’s EEG and scan. There was a reflection. It’s not a tumor, so she’s sure it’s nothing. Cameron looks worried. Do you think Kirsten will be okay?

Kirsten and Linus break into Ivy’s house while she’s at yoga. Kirsten used the spare key, so technically they didn’t actually break in. Kirsten finds a box full of photos and childhood drawings. Ivy saved everything from her life with Stinger, so Ivy must not hate him. If Ivy still cares about her father, then what will she be willing to do to get him back?

Linus duplicates Ivy’s hard drive and looks for every reference to Stinger. They are horrified when they find out Ivy was the one who created the ‘Little Cameron’ anomaly. Ivy is the one who trapped Kirsten in her memory and almost killed her.

What did you think of Stitchersepisode 3x08 “Dreamland”? Hope Detective Fisher doesn’t leave the Stitchers team! How do you think the Ivy situation will play out? Leave your thoughts and comments on the episode below.